


Endless

by Cheeky_The_Monkey



Series: Whumptober 2020 [11]
Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Chell is struggling, Suicidal Thoughts, Whumptober 2020, but she pushes on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:35:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26958190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheeky_The_Monkey/pseuds/Cheeky_The_Monkey
Summary: There's only so long Chell can go without a break.Written for Whumptober 2020! Day 11 Prompt: Struggling.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951183
Kudos: 22
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Endless

_“Well done,”_ Her distant voice announced, _“you have managed to find a place inside this chamber that I can’t detect. I won’t lie to you, I think we’re past that, so I will tell you plainly. I am not happy.”_

Chell covered her ears so tightly that it felt like her head would explode from the pressure on her skull.

_“I will find you. It’s only a matter of time. And if I can’t, I’m sure a bit of deadly neurotoxin can solve that problem. See you soon. I’m looking forward to it.”_

It was at least another ten minutes before Chell dared to uncover her ears.

That tiny alcove behind a loose panel was the most luck she’d had during her time in Aperture. Or ever. Though it was dark, damp and cramped, She couldn’t find her here, and that alone made it the best place in the world.

And Chell knew she couldn’t stay there forever. She had to complete the test and progress. With each test she completed, she knew she must be getting closer to freedom. Somehow. Even a little.

But Her testing was relentless, and Chell was only human. She’d been needing a rest for _so long_ (she wasn’t able to understand the passage of time anymore, but it must have been a good few days with no break) and so she didn’t hesitate climbing into the hole.

There were some illegible scrawls scratched onto the wall, as well as some empty rusted cans in the corner. She wasn’t sure whether it was unnerving or reassuring that someone had been there before her. The more she looked at the writing on the wall, the more she could just about manage to read parts of it. 

But all that could be done later. For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, time didn’t matter.

She sank to the ground and tugged off her boots and took off the top half of her jumpsuit. And it felt like she could _breathe._

The removal of her outer clothes must have had a psychological effect too, because the second she did so a wave of exhaustion washed over her. She curled up on the ground.

_Test after test after test after test,_ it was endless. And more than once Chell found herself on the brink of death. And, more than once, Chell caught herself wondering if death was truly the only way out.

No. She couldn’t give up. She had to push on. Ignore her taunts, stay awake, and complete the tests.

This was never the life she’d imagined for herself when she was a little girl. To be hunched up in a dingy crack between two walls and to think of it like a palace. To be trapped in a deranged underground science facility and forced to perform deadly tasks day after day with no sign of ever stopping. To have her life controlled by a sadistic AI.

And she’d found the one place that GLaDOS couldn’t see her. This was the one place where she could show weakness.

So Chell began to cry.

Using her jumpsuit as a blanket, she cried herself to unconsciousness. 

But that was her first blissfully dreamless sleep in years.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment :)


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